


Pinch Me

by CleopatraThe7th



Category: Split (2016)
Genre: Cheering Up Casey, F/M, One Shot, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleopatraThe7th/pseuds/CleopatraThe7th
Summary: Fic written to fill a prompt sent to me by WTFIsSheOn: "I had an idea for a story where Casey comes home after one of those terrible, horrible, no good very bad days and Barry does EVERYTHING in his power to cheer her up, and nothing works until Dennis breaks character and tries to get her to smile. "
Relationships: Barry/Casey Cooke
Comments: 16
Kudos: 53





	Pinch Me

Pinch Me

The door to the small apartment shut quietly.

That was what caught Dennis's attention. Normally, Casey entered in a flurry of motion, dropping her bag by the door (what was in those purses that made them thump like that? Do all girls carry a brick collection with them?), kicking her shoes off with two clunks as they hit the ground, the clink of her keys as they fell into the little jar that rested near the door, and sometimes she'd be humming in an offhand way, unaware that she was doing it. Today, none of that. The door had just been quietly shut; the clicking of the latch had been the only real sound, since Dennis made sure that the door was kept oiled.

He stood there, nearly holding his breath, his head cocked slightly to one side as he listened. There was a soft shuffle as Casey moved down the hallway... quietly.

Not a great sign.

_Barry?_ Dennis called into the recesses of his mind. _Casey had a bad day._

This didn't happen often; Casey was a tough cookie, and after all that she had been through, it took a lot to get to her. That being said... she was still human. Sometimes the days just got to her; Jade had been ecstatic when Casey had gotten a job at a small cafe, but Dennis had been worried - public service sucked, and people could get nasty. Barry had shrugged off Dennis's concerns, but Dennis thought he saw understanding in the buoyant alter's eyes. 

Who knew better than they did how people could be?

These silent musings did nothing to correct what was going on in the here and now, so the stern man corralled his thoughts. He walked into the cramped space that made up their kitchen, and found Casey leaning against the counter, her eyes shut, holding onto a cup of coffee as if it was a life preserver. He took note of her furrowed brow, the slight sag to her shoulders, and handed the light off to Barry, who was eager to cheer up his lady.

"What's the haps, babygirl?" Barry asked her, forcefully injecting good cheer into the gloomy atmosphere.

She winced slightly before opening her eyes, and gave Barry a weak smile. "Hey, Barry. It's been a bit of a day... and I just... I just need a little time to remember how to be human right now."

Barry crossed the kitchen and wrapped her in his arms, meaning to offer her a reassuring hug, but the object of his affections stayed uncharacteristically stiff in his arms, resisting his charms. He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed the tip of her nose, which was usually a sure way to get her to giggle, but today she just looked a little exasperated. 

"Barry... Bear-bear. I love you. I do. But I'm just in a miserable mood, and I don't wanna bring you down, okay? Please?"

"I think that you had a lousy day, because people can be awful, but now that you're here, with your extremely unique boyfriend, you can let it go," he began to tickle her now, fingers fluttering up and down her sides, "and just have some fun with me."

She jerked back from his probing fingers, automatically retreating from the onslaught of tickles, and her coffee sloshed out of her coffee cup, liberally painting the front of her shirt. "Oh, fuck - Barry!" She said with dismay. "Wonderful."

"Oh, god, I'm sorry, Case. I just wanted to lighten the mood--"

Casey held her hands up defensively. "It's... it's okay. I think I'm just gonna take a shower." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, not wanting to walk away on bad terms, but she still turned and left.

_Smooth._ Dennis observed from the depths of Barry's mind. _Certainly improved things for her._

"Fine, let's see how you do then, Mr. Sensitive." Barry grumbled to Dennis, and handed the light off again. 

Dennis blinked owlishly in the kitchen for a moment before immediately cleaning up the few droplets of coffee that hadn't managed to mar Casey's shirt. Task complete, he went to the bedroom. He could hear the shower running, so he examined the hamper - she had tossed her shirt in there. Resisting the urge to give a very Patricia-esque tut, he pulled it out, setting up a soaking solution back in the kitchen sink in an effort to save it from staining.

He tried to return the light to Barry, but Barry was having none of it. _Nope, let's see you cheer her up then, oh master of keen observations._

"Quit pouting." Dennis muttered, exasperated. He knew that he should just admit that he wasn't going to have much more luck than Barry'd had and concede defeat... but then an idea struck him.

Laying out a casual outfit for Casey of a long-sleeved shirt, a hoody, and some jeans, he went to the living room, meaning to get a start on reorganizing the bookshelves (by genre, and within that alphabetically by author's last name) to pass the time.

~*~*~*~

"I'm not really in the mood to go out, Bar-- oh, sorry, Dennis." Casey apologized quickly, recognizing Dennis for who he was as soon as she saw him kneeling before the bookshelf, surrounded by neat stacks of books.

Dennis stood, brushed imaginary dust from his knees, and straightened his clothes curtly. She was dressed in what he'd put out for her. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he answered, "I'd appreciate it if you'd accompany me." He focused on a spot slightly above her shoulder as he made his statement, unable to bring himself to watch her face to see if she was utterly repelled by the idea.

"Uhm... I had kind of a bad day... I was thinking I'd just stay in."

Raising an eyebrow at her, he forced himself to meet her gaze. "Please."

She heaved a sigh. "I... okay, fine. Sure - where are we going?"

A small smile, the one that Dennis rarely let out, curved his lips gently, and he extended an arm, inviting her to lead him out of the apartment.

~*~*~*~

"Here?" Casey's voice was uncertain, and her eyes were fastened on him, studying him, possibly for signs of where his sanity had gone.

"Here." Dennis agreed, shifting the small sedan that they shared into park and killing the engine. 

Stepping out of the car, he walked around to her door and opened it for her, keeping a respectful distance so that she could get out of the car easily. She goggled up at him for a moment before clambering out of the car, still waiting for him to give in and admit that this was a bizarre joke. He closed the door, clicked the button to lock it from the fob, then checked the handle. Locked. Good.

He turned and began walking into their destination, while she trailed slightly behind him. 

"The Melrose Diner?" She said, incredulous.

Dennis turned to her, smiling that same small, secret smile, and ushered her in the door.

It was the definition of a greasy spoon.

The Formica counter that dominated the small space looked like it had barely been acquainted with disinfectant over the diner's seventy years of operation; the floors were swept but irregular, and the booths, one of which Dennis was now following a haggard looking hostess who was clad in a pink dress to while Casey followed in their wake, were the bright plastic style that had been favored all of those decades ago.

They sat, the hostess dropped a couple of menus and a specials list at the end of the booth between them before departing, and Casey eyed Dennis curiously. "Dennis?"

"Yes?" Was he feigning innocence? Did Dennis even know how to do that?

"...What are we doing here?"

Reaching with a hand safely clad in his yellow handkerchief, Dennis picked up a menu and began to study it. "I thought that you might be hungry." he replied at last, offering the menu to her.

"You're kidding me."

He blinked at her, blue eyes unfathomable.

She pushed on. "You... you've gotta be hating it here. It's not exactly spotless." 

Dennis glanced at the mop and bucket that were sitting beside the main counter top. His eyes continued around the small, cramped diner; noting the spots of dust on the framed pictures of forgotten celebrities that were hung too high up to be easily cleaned, and the spots where the original counter tops had worn thin. "It certainly isn't." he agreed.

A waitress, looking like she was either an old thirty or a young sixty, arrived, took their orders (Casey nearly swallowed her tongue when Dennis ordered, with apparent relish, the messiest sounding burger on the menu - "The Defibrillator" - and a chocolate milkshake), and departed again.

Determined, she tried to continue. "Dennis, there's no way you're comfortable here."

He regarded her carefully, then his focus settled beyond her. He stood abruptly, and abandoned her, making his way to the cleanest thing in the entire establishment: an antique jukebox.

Her jaw dropped open as he flipped the little selection screen (barehanded!) before pushing in a quarter and punching in his selection. 

His task done, he returned to the table, sitting across from her with an air of nonchalance that she wouldn't have believed any of the alters beside Barry could have achieved. "Catching flies?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Casey realized that her mouth was still open and shut it with a small snap. "What is going on?" now she was laughing a little, and the smile on Dennis's face wasn't as small as it usually was.

"I like it here." Dennis admitted finally. Seeing her incredulous look, he continued, "No, really. Maybe because it is such an affront to my senses. It's... it's where I go when I need something different." He paused before adding, "I thought that you could use something different after a bad day."

"Do the others know that you come here?" 

"No. I keep the light very close when I'm here. Can you imagine the harassment I'd get from Jade? She'd stop even her most minor attempts at cleanliness if she knew that I can stomach someplace like this..."

She laughed, and the sound took some of the tension out of his posture. "I can't believe that your safe zone is some tiny diner."

He shrugged, and their food arrived. His burger appeared to be as wide as it was tall, and Casey found herself staring again as Dennis picked it up in both hands and took a giant bite, grease and condiments running down his fingers. She opened her mouth to comment, but his eyes flicked to hers, and he murmured, "Please, it takes everything I have to enjoy this. Eat, then we'll talk." Closing his eyes, she assumed to block out the wreckage that the burger was causing to his usually spotless hands, he resumed eating, appearing to enjoy every bite.

Burger devoured, Dennis excused himself to the restroom, and was gone for so long that Casey began to worry. When he did return, she noticed that his hands were slightly pink from the intense scrubbing that he must've given them to eradicate all of the burger remnants. He speared a french fry with his fork, drowned it in the puddle that his burger had left, and offered it to the shocked girl.

His face and eyes were unreadable, so she decided to throw caution to the wind and took the fork. "Mmm!" it wasn't a fake sound; it really was delicious. Her own dinner, fish and chips which she had doused liberally in vinegar, had been good, but the flavors from Dennis's cardiac arrest-inducing meal blew her meal out of the water. Casey paused, then picked up her fork, raising her eyebrows at the man seated across from her. 

Inclining his head slightly, Dennis pushed his plate light across the table so that they could share the plate of fries. He wiped his mouth on a napkin, carefully unwrapped a straw, and started on his shake. He took a massive sip before stopping, rubbing his forehead with a fisted hand.

"Brain freeze?" Her voice was sympathetic, but her eyes twinkled. This was a side of Dennis that she had never seen.

Wincing, he sighed and nodded, and pushed his milkshake across the table to her, handing her a straw from the small dispenser that sat nestled among the napkins and spice shakers. She put her straw in, and began to sip. Recovered, Dennis leaned forward and stole a sip from his straw, and for a moment the two were sharing a milkshake, looking like an ad from an old magazine, before a deep blush crept across his cheeks and he sat back. "Sorry." he muttered, embarrassed.

"Don't be." She smiled at him. "This... was exactly what I needed." Her eyes sought his, and she reached across the table to give his hand a brief squeeze. "I have to admit, I really didn't think that you'd like a place like this."

"I keep everything in order. I try to keep everything clean. Sometimes, I need to go to a place where I can just try to be normal for a little." Dennis's face fell into a sheepish smile. "Also, I _really_ like that burger."

"And none of the others know?"

"No. I usually pick a task that I enjoy but bores the others, like re-alphabetizing the books, or arranging the clothing room by color, and that ensures that no one comes near the light for a while. I get privacy, so I come here." The man's voice was even as ever, but there was a shine of pride in his eyes, that he had kept this ruse up undetected.

Casey opened her mouth, meaning to ask more questions about this surprising hobby, but Dennis held a finger up, shushing her silently.

The Beatles piped in over the speakers, and "It's Been a Hard Day's Night" filled the little diner. Dennis tapped his fingers in perfect time to the beat. This was the closest that Casey had ever seen him come to dancing, or really letting loose, and she stayed quiet, allowing him to enjoy his song. He never listened to music when he had the light; finding out that he was a secret Beatles fan was the icing on the unexpected cake of Dennis insight that he had decided to serve her tonight. 

When the song ended, he stood, grabbing the check as he did. 

The drive home was quiet and pleasant, and when they entered their apartment, Casey was humming the Beatles quietly, taking her shoes off with a couple of clunks, and dropping her purse near the door. Dennis returned to the living room, meaning to finish his task of shelf reorganization.

"Dennis?" Casey's voice drifted over to him from the doorway.

He stood, turning to her and raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"

She approached him tentatively before quickly giving him a hug, her soft body pressed against him for only a moment before she stepped back again. "Thanks for tonight. Your secret place was exactly what I needed." Smiling up at him, she added, "I'll make sure that it stays your secret place."

Nodding to her, he returned to his task once more.

~*~*~*~

Hours later, Casey was awakened from sleep by the mattress shifting from another body laying down on the bed. An arm snaked around her waist, and she knew that Barry had rejoined her. "Hey, Bear." she mumbled, still half asleep.

"Hey, doll." He kissed placed a soft kiss on her shoulder. "Sorry for leaving you alone with Dennis so long. Did he manage to help you cheer up?"

Rolling over to face him, she nodded. "He really did."

Barry's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "What did he do?"

"Reorganized the book shelf."

Groaning, Barry kissed her forehead. "Ugh, I never would've thought that would actually make anyone feel better. You must've had a really rough day if that worked."

In his mind, from his chair, Dennis smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that this is what you were looking for, WTF! It didn't end up being overly fluffy, but I'm easing into the fluff world, and would be happy to try again.
> 
> If anyone would like to see me take a stab at a story, feel free to shoot me an email at theseventhcleopatra@gmail.com!


End file.
